PURCELL: Love's Goddess Sure was Blind - The Sixteen; The Symphony of Harmony and Invention

This disc combines some of Henry Purcell’s most powerful masterpieces. Love’s Goddess Sure was Blind, an exuberant tribute to the young Queen Mary, and some of his most eloquent compositions, written for her funeral.

Love’s Goddess Sure was Blind, written in exuberant and florid style for the birthday of the much loved young Queen Mary ends, extraordinarily, with a reflection on the grief her eventual death would provoke. It was less than six years later that the prophesied mourning became a reality, when, in her early thirties, she succumbed to smallpox. Purcell’s eloquent compositions for her funeral are acknowledged as some of his most powerful masterpieces marrying a genuine of expression of grief (Purcell greatly admired the witty, musical Mary) with a characteristic sophistication of style.

The Sixteen
The Symphony of Harmony and Invention
Harry Christophers

'This magnificent contribution … breaks new ground in scholarship, matching it with performances of the highest order ... the elegy O Dive Custos, with the astonishingly boy-like voices of Libby Crabtree and Carys Lane, is the unforgettable high point in this superb tribute to Purcell and his Queen.' BBC Music Magazine




Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
Two Latin Motets
1. Jehova, quam multi sunt hostes mei
2. Miserere Mei

3.- 5. Funeral Sentences

Elegy on the Death of Queen Mary
6. Incassum, Lesbia, incassum rogas

Ode for Queen Mary’s Birthday, 1692
Love’s Goddess Sure was Blind
7. Symphony
8. Love’s goddess sure was blind this day
9. Those eyes that form, that lofty mien
10. Sweetness of nature, and true wit
11. Long may she reign over this Isle
12. May her blest example chase
13. Many such days may she behold
14. May she to heaven late return

Elegy on the Death of Queen Mary
15. O dive custos auricae domus

The Complete Funeral Music for Queen Mary (1695)
Order of Service at The Burial of the Dead (Thomas Morley [c.1557 – 1602] and Henry Purcell)
16. The Queen’s Farewell (James Paisible [d.1721])
17. March (Purcell)
18. The Queen’s Farewell (Thomas Tollett [d.c.1696])
19. March (Purcell)
20. I am the resurrection and the life (Morley)
21. I know that my Redeemer liver (Morley)
22. We brought nothing into this world (Morley)
23. Man that is born of a woman (Morley)
24. In the midst of life (Morley)
25. Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts (Purcell)
26. Canzona (Purcell)
27. I heard a voice from Heaven(Morley)